Everybody Lies to SHIELD
by pinkhairedharry
Summary: SHIELD agents lie, especially to SHIELD. Exerts from SHIELD's files.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.

Clint's personnel file had more lies in it than Natasha's did.

Shield File: Clinton Francis Barton was born in Clinton, Iowa to Catherine and Barney Francis Barton five minutes after William Francis Barton and four years after Barney Francis Barton jr. The Barton's hadn't been rich but they'd been happy, Mrs. Barton a waitress and Mr. Barton a mechanic before the elder Barton's died in a car accident and the boys spent two years in foster care before running away to the circus.

Truth: Clinton Francis Barton had been born and raised on the fringes of society, in a circus that was home to a diverse group of gypsies and outcasts. His mother, Katarina Konstantinov, had been the circus's beautifully exotic dark haired silver eyed fortune teller while his father, Barney Francis Barton, had been a blonde blue eyed drifter that stuck around the circus just long enough to father three sons before walking away. His mother was still very much alive and kicking though he wasn't sure about his father.

Shield File: Clinton Francis Barton was functionally illiterate having never gone to school after joining the circus.

Truth: Clinton Francis Barton had never gone to school but he was fully literate in multiple languages: Russian, English, French and Polish were some of them and he was fluent in Romany as well. He just really hated reading and writing reports.

Shield File: Clinton Francis Barton had apprenticed under Trickshot before Bullseye had handed him a bow. By the time Clint was fourteen he'd been better than both of them and made the star performer in Carson's Travelling Circus. Trickshot had made Barney his partner crime well before they left the circus. Trickshot had meant to kill Clint the day he left.

Truth: Trickshot hit him exactly where he meant to. He wasn't stupid enough to kill the gypsy witch's favorite son.

Shield File: Clinton Francis Barton never served in any countries' army in any capacity though his brother William had before being recruited by the IMF.

Truth: Clinton Francis Barton joined the army in lieu of a prison sentence under the alias James Lee when he was sixteen and spent five years as a black ops sniper before being 'KIA'. With some help from a local gypsy clan he made his way home and rejoined Carson's Travelling Circus without anyone in the military or government noticing.

Shield File: Phillip J. Coulson found and recruited twenty four year old Clinton Francis Barton codenamed Hawkeye: the Best Marksman in the world at Carson's Travelling Circus three years after Phil himself was recruited by Fury.

Truth: Former Army Ranger Captain Phillip J. Coulson recognized Corporal James Lee who'd 'died' holding the line for the rest of their unit within moments of seeing Hawkeye. Phil had known Lee was too fucking young to be there the first time he'd laid eyed on him no matter that his papers said he was eighteen. Lee had followed Coulson's lead for five years through cake walk missions, bad missions, fubar missions, how the hell did we survive that missions, he'd even gone home with Phil on leave because he had nowhere else to go. Their unit had called Lee, Phil's puppy, but there hadn't been one of them that hadn't owed Lee his life. The only time he'd failed to follow orders had been the last time Phil had seen him. He was waiting in Hawkeye's trailer when Clint finally finished for the night and Clint followed him to Shield two days later. They spent one of those two days making up Clint's history and agreeing on just how much of the truth he was willing to share. Not much for Shield but all of it for Phil. Phil spent the other day being interrogated by Clint's mother and the rest of their clan before being made an honorary member of the clan. The morning of their departure Clint's mother had waylaid Phil before Clint woke up and had words with him. Phil still to this day refuses to tell Clint what those words were. His mother just cackles every time he asks.

Shield File: Agent Barton's visual acuity was in the top one percent of unaltered human ability.

Truth: Clint always lies during his vision tests. He switches out the scope for a plain glass replica every time because he knows how to hide in plain sight and someone is always watching. He had just a touch of the Sight his mother had in spades but never regretted that he didn't have more. William had about the same amount but it manifested differently. He saw patterns that no one else saw and remembered everything he'd ever seen. Barney had taken after their father with his complete lack of Sight. The jealousy and anger he held for his brothers, their mother, and even the rest of the clan had eaten away at him until there was nothing salvageable left in him. The twins had never understood why Barney had been jealous in the first place, the Sight was just as much a curse as it was a blessing. Clint had excellent vision, the distances he could see were amazing, sometimes he even got glimpses of peoples' souls but there were down sides to all of that. There wasn't anyone to share the view with. Sometimes souls were horrifyingly awful to see and sometimes he had to watch as beautiful souls were cut down around him, he couldn't forget either. Plus both twins suffered migraines that were physically paralyzing when they hit.

Shield File: Agent Barton only willingly works with Coulson as his handler. He does on occasion work with Sitwell, Wu or Hill as his handler but no one is very happy during those occasions because he didn't play well with others.

Truth: He'd lost eighty percent of his hearing during an op gone wrong because his handler at the time refused to listen to him. Coulson, Sitwell, Wu, Hill, Fury and medical are the only ones that know about his hearing loss. Coulson, Hill, Sitwell and Wu are the only handlers that are also proficient in ASL so they were the only ones assigned to him in case his hearing aids get damaged. Coulson is actually the only one he trusts when shit goes to hell.

Shield File: Agent Barton gets injured often. Agent Coulson is Agent Barton's medical proxy for convenience sake. Agent Coulson always stays with Barton when he's in medical to make sure Barton stays in medical. They share a room any time both of them are injured.

Truth: Clint didn't trust hospitals and Shield medical gave him hives. The one and only time Clint had woken up in medical without Phil he had a full blown panic attack.

Shield File: Agent Barton spends a lot of time in the air ducts.

Truth: Usually he's hiding from Hill or Fury, scaring the baby agents or napping above Phil's office.

Shield File: Agent Barton flirts with everyone even Director Fury on occasion. Sending him to harassment seminars make it worse.

Truth: He only did it to hide his actual flirting with Coulson. He's extremely annoyed after the harassment seminar so he flirts even more outrageously.

Shield File: Agent Barton had an apartment outside of Shield.

Truth: Clint had gone home with Phil one night and never left. He sublet his loft to the barista at his favorite coffee shop because she always made his order as soon as she saw him even when the line was to the door and he decided to spice things up she always got it right. Phil joked that she was the coffee whisperer. Clint argued that she had the Coffee Sight.

Shield File: Barton uses every one of his vacation days every year but no one knows where he actually goes. Coulson's vacations always coincide with Barton's.

Truth: At least once a year Clint's vacation coincides with William's. Clint drags Phil along every time he visits Carson's Travelling Circus. Phil's gotten pretty good on the high-wire. Phil brings Clint home with him every Thanksgiving. His daughter had been just as attached to Corporal Lee as Phil had been. She'd known Clint since she was seven and she'd seen her parent's divorce coming way before Clint entered their lives. They'd been living separate lives for her entire life and the few times a year they spent together they acted like roommates instead of spouses. The split had probably been the friendliest most amicable divorce in existence. The fact that her mother filed the paperwork just days before Lee's 'twentieth' birthday hadn't surprised anyone but Clint. The only thing that had changed after the divorce had been her dad sleeping in Lee's room instead of her mom's.

Shield File: Agent Barton disobeyed direct orders to kill the Black Widow. It was the first time he completely disobeyed his orders in the nine years he'd worked for Shield. He had dropped off the grid for twenty four hours (Coulson conveniently disappeared four hours into Barton's disappearance) before he'd brought her in alive and cooperative. He offered no explanation or excuses to Fury as to why he did what he did he just gave a cocky smirk as he told him she's ours.

Truth: The thing that made him offer her a chance was the fact that her soul wasn't nearly as damaged as it should have been for one with her list of achievements. When he said she's ours he meant his and Phil's not Shield's as he implied.

Shield File: Agent Barton worked just as well with Agent Romanov as they worked solo. Their success rate was unparalleled even if it wasn't one hundred percent because bad intel was unavoidable at times. The undefined but clearly more than friendly relationship between agents Barton and Romanov is ignored because Fury doesn't give a rat's ass about the fact that Romanov follows Barton where ever it was he goes when he's off duty because they're entirely Coulson's responsibility. He brought in Barton and Barton brought in Romanov so all the shit they get up to off the clock was his to deal with.

Truth: Phil and Clint had a blast introducing Natasha to Carson's Travelling Circus. Natasha enjoyed fire dancing the most. Phil's daughter took a lot longer to warm up to Natasha than Clint's mother had but that had been expected. Clint's mother had liked Natasha well before she met her. Phil's daughter had to adjust to the fact that her Dad and 'Uncle' Clint had added a beautiful redheaded woman that was closer to her age than Clint's to their fifteen year relationship.

Shield File: Budapest had really bad intel. No one is exactly sure how Agents Barton and Romanov survived because the Higher-ups refused to give the okay for a rescue mission.

Truth: Fury looked the other way when Phil went off the grid. Budapest was the event that turned Phil/Clint and Natasha into Phil/Clint/Tasha.

Shield File: Agent Barton was disappointed he wasn't assigned to Coulson team when Tony Stark needed to be debriefed after escaping from the Ten Rings.

Truth: Phil refused to let them get within a mile of each other.

Shield File: Agent Barton argued against placing Romanov as Stark's PA and refused to talk with Coulson and Romanov during the op.

Truth: He'd visited Tasha quite a few times at Stark Industries. He'd been at Stark's mansion with Coulson when Phil got the call about New Mexico.

Shield File: Agent Barton hadn't interacted with Dr. Foster's group.

Truth: Clint had taken Phil's daughter out to lunch while Phil set up base camp. He'd also stolen her Ipod when he got bored.

Shield File: Watching over Dr. Selvig and the Tesseract was not a reprimand.

Truth: It was. Darcy spent three weeks yelling at her dad for stealing her Ipod. Phil was just getting even.

Shield File: When Romanov recovered Barton she was ordered not to inform him of Coulson's death.

Truth: She did anyways.

Shield File: Agents Barton and Romanov were indefinitely assigned to the Avengers.

Truth: Clint and Natasha quit after Fury admitted Phil wasn't as dead as he implied. Clint broke Fury's nose after Steve showed him Phil's cards.


	2. Chapter 2

Phil's Shield File has less outright lies in it but he's the one that wrote it.

Shield File: Deputy Director Fury recruited Army Ranger Captain Phillip J. Coulson.

Truth: Nick Fury had worked with Phil's mother before becoming Phil's commanding officer from the time he enlisted until he got a command post of his own. When Fury got the offer to run SHIELD he'd asked Phil to come with. Phil told him he was needed right where he was but maybe later. It took six years and thirty three declines before he finally had enough of the Army and agreed to be Fury's left eye again.

Shield File: Agent Coulson has no living family.

Truth: Phil joined SHIELD on the condition that no connection to his family ever made it into his file. His mother had already hidden their connection and Nick was his daughter's godfather. They spent a week destroying every paper and virtual connection. Phil's ex-wife and daughter were moved cross country with new names, social security numbers and everything they needed to start over. It didn't really change their lives all that much: new names, new home, new city, new state but routine life for the former Coulson's stayed the same. Phil still spent most of his time away but he got to visit slightly more often than when he was a Ranger. Phil's older half-sister had cut her ties with him when he joined the army (not because he joined but because her husband was an ass and hated Phil. The feeling was mutual), but he kept tabs on her and her son anyways. Her son was very good at finding trouble (Phil almost recruited him but he did more good where he was). Phil's mother was still alive and happily living in one of Shield's retirement communities even though she was in her nineties. He also had a younger half-brother he was pretty sure had no idea about him but he kept tabs on him anyways.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is not an actual recruiter for Shield.

Truth: Phil made recommendation for Shield agents all the time (including Hill and Sitwell) but Clint was the first and only person Phil actually recruited and that had been accidental. Phil and his ex-wife had taken their daughter to Carson's Traveling Circus on a whim. Even after three years she'd recognized her beloved 'Uncle' Lee. The ten year old had no qualms with glomping Hawkeye in the middle of his performance. Clint, ever the showman, just rolled with it and continued his act with her hanging off his back like a monkey. Clint's mother, Katarina, dragged Jocelyn and Darcy to her trailer afterwards so Phil and Clint could talk. Neither Clint nor Phil expected those three to get along as well as they did but they shouldn't have been surprised.

As odd as it might seem to other people Jocelyn (formerly Joanna Coulson nee Evans) had adored Lee. He might have been the reason for their divorce but she'd never held it against him. They wouldn't have ever even thought about a relationship if she hadn't asked for the divorce. She and Phil been high school sweethearts and married before Phil shipped out but honestly neither of them had actually believed in the kind of Epic love that made you do crazy things, hadn't believed in soul-mates. They'd been happy together but as much as they loved each other they'd never been in love with each other. She'd watched 'Lee' make Phil happy by just being near and known he was Phil's soul-mate. She'd been happy for both of them. She'd been almost as devastated as Phil had been when he'd 'died'. Darcy (formerly Prudence which she happily changed to Darcy) had been in total denial, at seven she'd refused to believe he was dead because he'd promised not to die. Katarina adored the woman that stepped aside so her son could be happy and she absolutely loved her pseudo granddaughter. Jocelyn had helped Katarina with the 'words' she had with Phil so had Darcy.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is the personification of competence. He is also the paperwork master. All paperwork related questions should be directed to him.

Truth: Clint added that but it's actually true so Phil didn't bother taking it out.

Shield File: Agent Coulson has an aviation degree. He's cleared to fly anything from a crop duster to the Helicarrier.

Truth: It comes in handy quite often and he taught Clint how to pilot the quinjet while he was concussed during an extraction.

Shield File: Agent Coulson wasn't in charge of training junior agents. He had no say on whether they made the final cut or washed out.

Truth: Junior agents flocked to him like ducklings. The fact that he treated them like mildly retarded five year olds never prevents them from following him around. He did on occasion talk the Training Agents into passing a junior agent that would have regularly washed out with spectacular results.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is a boss ninja.

Truth: Clint also added that but Phil's too amused to take it out.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is dating a cellist. He's been dating her on and off since a few years before he joined Shield.

Truth: Clint is better at the violin but he plays the cello for Phil. Clint's rather good with all types of bows.

Shield File: Agent Coulson does not live in his office.

Truth: Sometimes he does but he misses his apartment and his bed when it happens. Clint's usually in the air duct above him so he doesn't actually miss Clint. On occasion Phil joins him up there but usually they end up on the couch. Clint is spectacularly good at disappearing before anyone so much as touches the door knob.

Shield File: Agent Coulson has walked unarmed into enemy strongholds to recover his assets.

Truth: Phil is always armed. Anyone can use a gun, but Phil can use anything as a weapon. It wasn't the army or Shield that taught him anything could be a weapon it had been his mother. Margaret Coulson nee Carter had been an agent for over twenty years when Phil was conceived and Phillip J. Coulson senior had already been dead for a month. Phil's older sister took after her father and had been primarily raised by the man before he died but Phil was entirely his mother's child. He remembers playing games with his mother that later in life saved his life.

Shield File: Agent Coulson always wears suits.

Truth: Clint makes a lot of jokes about Phil's suits but every suit is custom made. They are perfectly tailored to hide the 'extras' he carries. Phil has put his tailor's children through college so the man loves him, sends him greeting cards during the holidays and birthday cards every year and has never asked just what it is that Phil does that regularly destroys his hard work. There have only been ten ops in which Phil had to leave his suits at home. Clint gets slightly distracted by casual Phil because casual Phil is his.

Shield File: The intel on Budapest was BAD. Agent Coulson was not pleased at all. Three days after contact was lost with Agents Barton and Romanov the World Security Council denied a rescue mission. Agent Coulson smiled pleasantly at Director Fury before disappearing for a week. He returned with two battered, bruised, slightly broken but still very much alive assets.

Truth: The friendlier and more pleasant Phil becomes the more dangerous he is. It happens right before someone's about to get their asses handed to them in highly embarrassing ways. Phil knew Clint was a survivor and while he didn't have the same blind faith in Natasha as he did in Clint he wasn't willing to give up on either of them without bodies. It took him two days to find them and they were in bad shape. The semi-delirious grin on Clint's face when he showed up didn't quite distract him from the utter confusion on Natasha's. The fact that she crawled onto the mattress Clint was laying on and pass out less than five minutes after he took over watch meant more than any words she'd never say. As he watched them both rest for what was probably the first time in two weeks he realized Clint had been right when he said she was theirs. Budapest was the mission that cemented Agent Romanov into Natasha in Phil's head and Tasha in his heart.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is a BFN. He has no qualms dragging agents that weren't BFNs to Comic Cons to carry his shit when he's annoyed with them (Romanov and Barton). Hill got dragged along on occasion and even Fury hadn't escaped Comic Con 2010.

Truth: All Shield agents are BFNs but some are better at hiding it than others. Clint and Natasha actually love Comic Cons as much as Phil does. Fury won a costume contest in his Shield outfit.

Shield File: Debriefing Stark after his escape wasn't assigned to Agent Coulson in retaliation for the 'incident' it was because Agent Coulson was unflappable.

Truth: His nephew wore a Hawaiian print eye patch when meeting Clint for the first time. Clint gave Fury one for Boss's Day. Fury blamed Phil for introducing the two and was punishing him with Tony fucking Stark. Fury wasn't aware that the first time Phil met Tony, Phil was ten years old and Tony was two months old though before being assigned his debriefing Phil hadn't seen Tony since he was three. Phil hadn't actually been bothered by the fact that Tony hadn't recognized him, it had been roughly thirty five years after all and small children forget people very easily. It amused Phil when Tony called him Agent.

Shield File: Agent Coulson was on vacation when he was called in to babysit Mr. Stark the second time. Agent Coulson is allowed to Taser Mr. Stark whenever he feels it's necessary.

Truth: Phil and Clint were visiting Phil's mother at the time. Clint's mother, Katarina and Jocelyn had already been there with Darcy present via Jocelyn's laptop. Peggy and Katarina sent them on their way before they could make up an excuse not to go. Phil will never admit that he was just as terrified by the fact that they were all friends as Clint was. The only thing that would have scared him more is Natasha being there as well so it was a good thing they left before she conferenced in via Katarina's laptop. It was also a good thing that the boys didn't know that their meetings were a weekly thing and had been going on since Clint followed Phil to Shield. Natasha usually made their weekly chat even when she was on missions because she was that good.

Shield File: Agent Coulson likes crappy gas station donuts. Being denied their sugary goodness brings out the boss ninja.

Truth: Clint hadn't bothered to get out of the car when the gas station was being robbed though he did record the entire incident. Darcy got to watch it during their lunch before she convinced him to email it to Natasha and the three M's (Jocelyn, Katarina and Peggy). Later that day when Phil found out Darcy let Clint take the fall entirely on his own. Clint stole her Ipod in retaliation.

Shield File: Agent Coulson let Thor go with Dr. Selvig to see what he'd do.

Truth: It hadn't been that mush of a surprise when Clint's mother pointed out that Darcy had just the slightest touch of the Sight which she inherited it from Phil who inherited it from his mother. It was just enough to make them very good at seeing the true character of people. Darcy had point blank said he wasn't a bad guy so he let Thor go with Selvig.

Shield File: Agent Coulson didn't squeal like a fan girl when Fury informed him Captain America had been recovered.

Truth: There's a video of Clint and Natasha laughing so hard they're fell on their asses because of Phil's reaction to the news that manages to resurface no matter how hard Phil tries to get rid of it.

Shield File: Agent Coulson pulled Agent Romanov off assignment after Agent Barton was compromised.

Truth: Phil was beyond terrified that they weren't going to be able to get Clint back.

Shield File: Agent Coulson died after being stabbed threw the chest by Loki with his scepter.

Truth: He was only dead for a few minutes. Fury is an exaggerating liar even if the idea was Phil's in the first place. He really did think he was dead for sure that time so he could be forgiven for making the suggestion. Fury should have told them all the truth after the battle instead of putting it off until they (Katarina, Peggy, Jocelyn and Darcy) threw the mother of all shit fits. The fact that Tony managed to record Phil's ninety five year old mother hitting Fury with her Taser cane meant Nick was never living it down and almost made up for the loss of his Captain America cards.

Shield File: Agent Coulson is the Agent-in-charge of the Avengers.

Truth: Phil's the glorified babysitter to a Norse God, a brilliant scientist with breathtaking anger issues, Tony fucking Stark, a man out of time, an assassin that could kill them all and the worlds' greatest marksman but he wouldn't change it for the world.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: still dont own the avengers

Natasha's personal history was made up during the twenty four hour she and Clint went off the grid

Shield File: Black Widow has been the codename for Russia's top female assassins since the early fifties. There had been at least seven operatives with that title and they were created by the Red Room. The Red Room experimented on human test subjects (children) for decades with few successes, killing hundreds (low estimate). The few that survived the experimentations spent years being brain-washed and trained. The training was inhumane and killed ten for every one that survived. The methods used to 'program' and 'de-program' Red Room agents destroyed their real memories in the process.

Truth: Natalya Aliona Romanova was born in 1965, to hire-wire acrobats. She was a part of their act by the time she was two and by the age of four she was doing tricks on the wire on her own.

Shield File: The current Black Widow was by far the best. She'd been active since the late seventies. Her age is unknown but she's been genetically altered enough for it to not matter.

Truth: General Andropov* watched one of the Romanova family performances and decided little Natalya would be an excellent candidate for the Red Room. When her parents refused to give their little girl up they were killed right in front of her. Natalya Aliona Romanova died with her parents and subject 69-343 was born. Subject 343 underwent genetic alterations that slowed aging after puberty, increased healing capabilities by a factor of four and also increased pain tolerance, speed and flexibility. Everything else was done by pure brutal training and 'programing'. The 'programing' never truly destroyed her memories like it did with the other subjects. It suppressed them enough that handlers never suspected her of being anything but theirs. Subject 343 completed her first mission at age nine.

The Winter Soldier had been brought in to train her from then until she was fifteen (every so often he would throw off the programming and be taken away for reprograming but she cherished the few times she got to be with James last name never spoken. She never mentioned that it was James she shared her first lessons in seduction with and not the Winter Soldier. James had broken through in refusal of taking the last of her innocence but she'd convinced him that at least with him it would be a memory she could recall with fondness instead of horror or utter dispassion depending on who they felt like sending). They worked as a team sometimes after her training was deemed complete (with less supervision than they should have had but their handlers were convinced of Black Widow's loyalty by then). She never mentioned the times when James slipped through the Winter Soldier's programming.

Shield File: The last operative codenamed Black Widow was Russia's best asset (Winter Soldier was the best assassin but there is no evidence to support his actual existence) for two decades before going rogue. It wasn't the first time a Red Room agent had gone rogue but she was the first to survive, destroying the Red Room in the process. The kill on sight order for the Black Widow was not rescinded after she went rogue.

Truth: She hadn't gone rogue so much as bided her time until she could destroy them all. It had taken years to find every scientist that had been involved with the Red Room and slowly kill them off in mundane ways without drawing suspicion to herself but she'd whittled them down until the only ones left were those still attached to the training facility. All of the research, data and records (on the genetic modifications and alterations but not the 'programming') had (stupidly) been held on site when she made her move. The only ones to survive the destruction of the Red Room facility were twenty children between the ages of three and eight. Her only regret had been that the Winter Soldier had been off site on a mission instead of in his cryostasis chamber.

Shield File: The Black Widow spent a decade as a freelance killer.

Truth: They called her a freelance killer because she wasn't killing on any government orders but all of her targets had been bad guys (male or female) unlike when she'd been a Red Room Agent.

Shield File: Agent Barton was sent to kill the Black Widow. The entire file on her was pictures with aliases and brief descriptions of what she'd done. Facial recognition had been used to confirm that all of the aliases were the same person but her true identity (aside from former Red Room Agent codenamed Black Widow) had been unknown. He gone off the grid with her for twenty four hours (Agent Coulson was conspicuously missing for twenty of those hours).

Truth: He could have killed her. She was out of bullets, her knives were out of reach and her Widow's Bite spent (needing at least half an hour to charge back up enough to do more than annoy him) because of the goons that had chased her into the warehouse. He'd been following her since the chase began and she thought he was with them before he'd taken out the last five (they'd positioned themselves behind barricades). She wouldn't have been able to get to them before at least one of them got lucky. There was no cover for her with him up in the rafters and no way that he would miss. He wasn't a cheap hire that was for sure. His skill and the sure way he moved without a sound spoke of a professional (he'd taken two down with one shot and the other three down with precise head shot in less than a minute), of training ingrained so deeply (assassin not a soldier) he probably had to make an effort to move with sound, way too expensive for the pissant the thugs had worked for. Their eyes met and it was like he saw right through all of her, her training, all the years as an assassin and was viewing her very soul. James had given her the same intense look before he took her to bed that first time. She couldn't help but return his cocky (honest) grin with a rueful grin of her own when he packed up his rifle, dropped down and landed gracefully on his feet.

As cliché as it sounded he'd given her a new purpose that night spent fucking, then talking and making up her history (with Phil on speaker phone) in a crappy but 'safe' hotel room as they posed as newlyweds (for the first but definitely not last time). She hadn't understood why she trusted the man sent to kill her (and his Handler/Lover) but she did (at least the part of her that was still Natalya Ailona Romanova did and she hadn't been wrong yet).

Shield File: Agent Barton recruited Natasha Romanov code name Black Widow to Shield.

Truth: Clint brought Natasha home.

Shield File: Agent Romanov was extremely good at what she did. She worked best on her own or partnered with Agent Barton.

Truth: Working with Clint reminded her of working with James.

Shield File: Agent Romanov and Barton do get loaned out to other agencies on occasion.

Truth: Natasha almost broke Clint's nose for not mentioning his twin, Agent William Brandt of the IMF. Will's team hadn't hidden their surprise and confusion upon laying eyes on the Shield Agent codenamed Hawkeye. It was the first time she could remember being introduced as Black Widow and being ignored in favor of Hawkeye (Clint was one of the best but Natasha had a rep that most experienced agents had at least hear rumors of).

Shield File: Agent Romanov was always with Agent Barton when they fell off the grid. No one knows what they actually get up to when they disappear together but Fury didn't give a shit as long as they didn't cause any incidents.

Truth: Carson's Traveling Circus felt like home. She'd lost twenty bucks to Clint when Phil turned out to be quite good at the high-wire. Clint's mother had given her the same intense look that Clint (and James) had the first time they met (causing her to privately think that maybe James had managed to father a child during one of his escape attempts. Katarina had been born and raised in the Motherland until her mother's clan had smuggled themselves across the Pacific). Phil's mother was intimidating, his ex-wife had a wicked sense of humor and his daughter was a firecracker. Darcy liked her but it took her a while to come to terms with their (Clint, Natasha and Phil) relationship. Natasha enjoyed their weekly chats more than she thought she would.

Shield File: Budapest was BAD. No matter how many time Agents Coulson, Barton and Romanov are asked none of them can give a proper explanation as to how they survived.

Truth: Budapest was bad at times but it will always be a good memory for her. There is nothing they can say to make her change her mind about Budapest. Because nothing can change the fact that Phil went against orders for them (would always go against orders for them). Clint had given her that same cocky grin he had when he hadn't killed her before passing out again. She slept with a smile on her face that night and woke up feeling better than she had since they started this clusterfuck of a mission. Budapest was finally understanding why Clint held so damn much trust in Phil. Love was for children but trust meant a hell of a lot more in her book and the list of people she truly trusted consisted of James, Clint and Phil now. When she took Clint's offer she had trusted Phil because Clint had, Budapest gave her the reason to trust him for his own merit.

Shield File: Agent Romanov was assigned to evaluate Tony Stark for the Avenger's initiative.

Truth: She worded her report with every intention of Stark reading it. Everything she wrote in her report was true but she understood why Phil recommended him. If she had been asked for her personal opinion she would have recommended him (and Pepper) because for all of his quirks he was very much a kindred soul. None of those already chosen or those that still needed to be evaluated were exactly team players. She and Clint were the closest to team players and they only play well with each other and Phil.

Shield File: Agent Romanov had wanted to go on the New Mexico op but by the time Vanko and Hammer were dealt with the mission was already over.

Truth: She hadn't gotten to see Darcy in a while and she missed her. Darcy's 'I Tasered the Norse god of Thunder' won the annual best use of a Taser competition. Nana Coulson had been so proud of her.

Shield File: Agents Romanov, Coulson and Barton had voted against using the fake 1940's room for when the psychologists had recommended easing Captain America into the future.

Truth: They had all been on assignments when he finally woke up but they still took turns telling Fury and the Docs I told you so.

Shield File: Agent Coulson had pulled Agent Romanov off assignment when Agent Barton got compromised. She was assigned to bring Dr. Banner back with her.

Truth: If he hadn't pulled her off assignment she would have gone awol. If she hadn't been so worried about Clint she would have used different tactics to bring Dr. Banner in.

Shield File: Agent Romanov recovered Agent Barton after being chased (and knocked around) by the Hulk. She was ordered not to tell Agent Barton about Agent Coulson.

Truth: Ice eyed Clint had the upper hand during their fight. She was tired and battered while he had all of Clint's training, knowledge and muscle mass. As much as Ice eyes had been in control Clint hadn't been making it easy. Ice eyed Clint moved and reacted just fractionally slower than Clint did. His body also telegraphed his moves giving her the time to react she normally wouldn't have gotten. It wouldn't have been enough for anyone else but for her it made all the difference. She told him about Phil just before Captain America arrived.

Shield File: Agents Romanov and Barton went off the grid for three weeks before moving into Stark Tower.

Truth: They went straight to Carson's Traveling Circus and didn't leave until Mama C (Clint's nickname for Phil's mother) guilted them into taking her to visit Stark Tower.

Shield File: Agents Romanov and Barton were extremely unhappy with Director Fury for hiding Agent Coulson from them but they weren't nearly as pissed as Coulson's mother.

Truth: She youtube'd the video of Fury being repeatedly hit by a cane wielding ninety five year old before being tasered with said cane.

*Not to be mistaken with Yuri Andropov. I just liked the name.


	4. Tony's File

Truth and Lies about Anthony Edward Stark with bonus James 'Rhodey' Rhodes and Virginia Mae 'Pepper' Potts

Shield File: Anthony Edward Stark is the only child of Howard and Maria Stark.

Truth: He was Maria's only child but not Howard's. He remembers his big brother with more fondness than his father. He loved spending time with his big brother, Pip. Aunt Peggy would bring Pip over and they would play for hours while their mothers had tea or worked together on some society gala (Shield had been in its infancy still and ran more on private donation than government funding). He also remembers that it was his father that deemed it too risky for Pip to keep visiting. He remembers the screaming match that signaled the end of his brother's presence in his life. He remembers Pip trying to distract him from hearing them. He remembers his mother and Pip's mother united against their father but failing against the man's utter stubbornness. It would be decades before Tony noticed that Pip's last visit occurred shortly before Stane's introduction to the Stark family.

Shield File: Tony Stark grew up having the best of everything money could buy.

Truth: Tony would have traded it all for Pip and their mothers. Don't get him wrong as an adult he loves being rich but he knows without a doubt that he would have been happier without it as long as he had Pip, his mother and Aunt Peggy. No one ever talked about the fact that by twelve years old Tony had been kidnapped no less than fifteen times. It was a lot higher than that but he refused to count the times he made it home before anyone noticed he was missing. When he started at MIT he took over his own security and managed to avoid being kidnapped for the next twenty years.

Shield File: Tony Stark was a child prodigy graduating from MIT with a duel Business and Mechanical Engineering degree just days before his parents died when he was sixteen. Obadiah Stane took over parental duties as well as the running of Stark Industries until twenty one year old Tony was ready to take his place.

Truth: Stane had pretty much left Tony on his own as long as he stayed out of the spot light. He'd spent those five years building Dummy, You, Butterfingers and the core coding for what would later be Jarvis and quietly pursuing a third degree that he never mentions under an alias. He'd been assigned Rhodey as a roommate during his second 'freshman' year and they'd been friends since. Tony had been content with the situation until the board started asking questions and Obadiah dragged him back to Stark Industries.

Shield File: Tony Stark had been labeled the Merchant of Death. Tony Stark was also a drunken playboy with more money than god. Everything about his life was public knowledge. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes was his friend but no one knows how or where he met the Airman.

Truth: He wasn't nearly as drunk or as much of a playboy as he let the media think he was for the first decade he was CEO of SI. He was a fucking genius after all; the persona made it a lot easier to keep his actual private life private and gave him a hell of a lot of leeway with the Board. Models, Playboy Bunnies and aspiring actresses are more than willing to play along with the deception for the media attention that being linked to Tony Stark brings to the table. Pretending to be drunker than he was happened to be an excellent way to make everyone in turns underestimate him or straight up ignore the fact that he was a lot sharper than a drunken playboy should have been. People were a lot less careful around drunken Tony than sober Tony. The problem with having a persona was the longer you wore it the harder it was to take it off and it was easier to ignore the fact that they called him the Merchant of Death when he wasn't sober.

Rhodey was the only one that really knew just how much of it had been an act and just when it'd become real. It was the reason he stuck around no matter what crazy shit Tony got up to. He'd known Tony when he was happily living in obscurity without the public's opinion weighing heavily on young but brilliant shoulders. He'd known him when reporter hadn't followed him everywhere, when he hadn't been building weapons, when he hadn't been label the Merchant of Death, when he'd just been a brilliant kid creating functioning AI's decades before the leading minds of robotics would even come close to the level of success Tony had managed with his first creation (Dummy).

Shield File: Hiring Virginia Potts was the smartest thing Tony Stark ever did. Ms. Potts was a saint for putting up with him.

Truth: It totally was. Tony had been bored and purposely made a mistake on a section of the R&D budget to see if anyone would notice and call him on it. Ms. Potts was an assistant to one of the assistant accountants at the time but she was the only one that had the balls to call him on it. The rest of the accounting department had either refused to believe Mr. Stark had made a basic math mistake or were to chicken shit to mention it. They told her it was career suicide but she confronted him anyways. He fired her with a smirk and five minutes later when she finished yelling at him, he hired her as his Personal Assistant and rechristen her Pepper. Falling in love with her while she ranted at him was one of the stupidest (most painful) things he'd ever done. She made it crystal clear that she was off limits as anything more than his PA.

Pepper wasn't nearly as saint like as the masses thought she was. After three months of being his PA she figured out that she really liked the job. She was the highest paid PA in existence and she enjoyed watching Tony fuck with everybody. The worst part of her job was actually having to placate all the jackasses Tony purposely offended in the first place. She got a kick out of kicking Tony's flings out in the morning and she was never bored while she worked for him. She got to travel across the globe and used him as an excuse to never visit her family. It worked very well for her until the day Tony got taken.

Shield File: Tony Stark was kidnapped by Ten Rings terrorist and held prisoner for three months. Ms. Potts and Lt. Colonel Rhodes were the only one that never gave up believing he was still alive.

Truth: The physical torture, the lack of amenities and even the permanent hole in his chest hadn't been that bad. The absence of Pepper, Rhodey, his bots and his AI had been much worse. Shield hadn't believed him to be dead either.

Shield File: Tony Stark escaped on his own.

Truth: Yensin kept him going. It took him three months using scrap parts and shitty tools but he'd done it. The mark I suit was more of a success than he even hoped for. Crashing hadn't been a part of the plan but he sure as hell wasn't going to give up. He'd never been so fucking happy to see Rhodey before in his life. Seeing Pepper as he stepped of the cargo plane relived an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with the Arc Reactor. Rhodey might have phrased it kinder but he and Pepper were the only ones that hadn't given up on finding him alive.

Shield File: Tony Stark shut down the weapons manufacturing side of Stark Industries.

Truth: Weapons manufacturing had been his father's legacy but he'd never actually wanted it. When he took over Stark Industries at twenty one Stane and the Board had always pushed him into it. He'd fought them less and less until he'd come back from captivity. He'd actually meant to stick to the cover story Agent came up with but he was tired of living a lie.

Shield File: Tony Stark made Virginia 'Pepper' Potts CEO of Stark Industries because they were sleeping together.

Truth: They hadn't started dating until Pepper was already CEO. Pepper was the only one he trusted to take over for him. It didn't even really have anything to do with the palladium poisoning. SI was almost as much Pepper's baby as it was Tony's.

Shield File: Virginia Mae 'Pepper' Potts had been on Shield's watch list since she managed to last a full year as Stark's PA. By the time Stark had become Iron Man she was near the top of their watch list. They wanted to recruit her as a Handler for the 'difficult' assets.

Truth: Pepper enjoyed the corporate espionage that went on when dealing with such a huge company. She got a kick out of politely eviscerating sexist pigs and corporate asses. She could take over the world with a smile and utter competency but Tony needed her.

Shield File: Ms. Rushman had been hired as his PA because of her looks.

Truth: Tony knew Natalie Rushman was a Shield plant. Shield was good but Tony was a hell of a lot better. He was very good at faking obliviousness when he wanted to know why Shield put an undercover agent on him. He'd used Jarvis to track Ms. Rushman as she went out to lunch with a man (mirrored sunglasses, worn jeans, plain black sweat shirt, sandy-blond hair) and Agent. He hadn't expected the genuine affection the three shared but he'd cut back on the half-hearted flirting anyways. He didn't poach and she was clearly taken.

Shield File: Stark's birthday party got a bit out of hand.

Truth: He did think he was about to die at the time and he was pretty sure it was the only way to get Rhodey to take the suit without getting suspicious. Eating a donut in a giant donut had been on his bucket list since he was a kid so that probably would have happened at some point in time. When Agent Romanov stabbed him in the neck he damn near blasted her. Lithium dioxide doesn't exist but whatever it was worked. Getting stuck on house arrest until he found a way to fix his palladium problem was annoying. Being threatened with tasering and Super Nanny was inventive. Sneaking out was only a matter of waiting until Agent was distracted by sunglass dude from last week's lunch date.

Shield File: The Stark Expo was a hell of a show.

Truth: Totally worth it.

Shield File: Stark was offended when they rejected him for the Avengers Initiative.

Truth: He wasn't all that bothered by it. He didn't exactly do well with authority.

Shield File: Stark Tower was twelve percent Pepper's.

Truth: It was entirely hers if she wanted it. He said it because fiery Pepper was his favorite.

Shield File: Ms. Potts is friends with Agent Coulson.

Truth: Tony hadn't known Agent's first name until Pepper called him Phil when he came with the data on the tesseract, Loki and everything else Shield deemed he needed to know. He could have kicked himself for not noticing, as it was he let Phil and Pepper walk out without mentioning anything.

Shield File: Stark's reaction to Agent Coulson's death wasn't expected.

Truth: Tony was pissed, at Phil, at Loki, at Fury, at himself and pretty much everyone on the Helicarrier. His speech to Loki was from the heart and he damn well meant every word he said.

Shield File: Stark married Ms. Potts two days after the invasion in a private ceremony with Lt. Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Hogan as the only witnesses.

Truth: It was perfect but they were going to have an actual wedding when Pepper felt like revealing the truth to the world.

Shield File: Former Agent M. Coulson and her entourage showed up at Stark Tower three weeks after the failed Chitauri invasion (Director Fury did not cringe when he was informed of said fact).

Truth: Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bruce and Thor were already in residence at the Tower when Jarvis informed them that Agents Romanov and Barton plus guests had arrived. Steve and Tony had frozen as the group got off the elevator. Tony had frozen at the sight of his brother's mother while Steve was reeling from the fact that Peggy was standing in front of him and not dead like the file Shield had given him to read had stated. Thor had broken the tension by greeting Darcy with an enthusiastic hug that left her laughing as well as rubbing her ribs. It took a less time to explain the situation than anyone would have believed but within an hour they were all at Shield's New York HQ. Tony had recognized the look on his Aunt Peggy's face and pulled out his phone to record the spectacular reaming out Fury was about to receive.


End file.
